Barcelona Problems Starting to Solve Themselves Ahead of Malaga Clash
There are doubts about Luis Enrique's Barcelona 3.0. What's wrong with them? Why aren't they firing with as much force as before? Why are they being outplayed in matches? Sevilla, Manchester City and Celta Vigo all got the better of them for large periods of games.
These concerns are valid but only on a short-term basis and certainly not as factors that could stop them winning the title.
The Catalans signed six players in the summer, and for them to adjust to being part of the squad takes a while.
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Only Samuel Umtiti has immediately looked comfortable in the team, with the others at differing stages of development. As the season goes on, they will improve.
They have also played many of their toughest fixtures. Barcelona have travelled to the Mestalla to play Valencia, the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan to face Sevilla, Celta's Balaidos and Athletic Bilbao's San Mames.
The only two trickier games are the visits to Spain's capital to play Real Madrid and Atletico, the latter of whom Barcelona drew with at home.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid, who are ahead of Barcelona by two points in La Liga, face their first truly difficult game this weekend in the derby clash with Diego Simeone's Rojiblancos.
Finally, the biggest factor in breaking up Barcelona's game at the start of the season has been injuries. Few players in the squad have not been hit.
They missed Lionel Messi for a month, while captain and guardian of their style Andres Iniesta is midway through a long stretch out.
Long term, each of these factors should be resolved. However, despite being assured on these fronts, it won't do much for the team's short-term concerns.
The next game, against Malaga, is on paper relatively easy, but the squad is cut thin at the moment.
As things stand, the only fit defenders are Javier Mascherano and Lucas Digne.
The former will have a long-haul trip back from Argentina after his national team's games against Brazil and Colombia and is only likely to train fully on Friday before Saturday's game.
Digne has played several consecutive games and will be the player in the best condition, although Jordi Alba is expected to be passed fit to play later this week.
If that is the case, the left-back may start his first game since he went off injured against Manchester City at Camp Nou on Oct. 19.
Gerard Pique has also been out for a month and is expecting to be get medical clearance to play against Malaga later this week.
He suffered an ankle injury in the same game Alba damaged his hamstring, and both players trained with the rest of the squad at Luis Enrique's disposal on Wednesday morning.
The other two centre-backs in the squad, Umtiti and Jeremy Mathieu, are also afflicted by injury. The former is out for three weeks after injuring his hamstring while with the France squad, and his aim is to be back for the Clasico.
His compatriot, meanwhile, suffered a calf injury in the Catalan Super Cup clash with Espanyol on Oct. 25 and may not make the squad for the game against Malaga.
Sport.es reported: "On Wednesday, Pique, who was at Wembley to watch Spain's 2-2 draw with England on Tuesday, worked as normal with the rest of his team-mates under Luis Enrique's orders. Jordi Alba was also training with the group for the second day running and both are set to be available this weekend."
What will concern Luis Enrique is the report from the same Spanish outlet that Sergi Roberto has been suffering Achilles tendon pain while with Spain.
He did not feature in either game La Roja played during the international break, the win over Macedonia or the draw with England.
There has been no confirmation of an injury, and Roberto, who completed the last training session, may be fortunate enough to avoid any serious problem.
Aleix Vidal, the reserve right-back, has been frozen out of the team since he played badly in the club's shock home defeat to Alaves on Sept. 10, so there is no cover for the position.
The coach tried Mascherano there against Manchester City and in other games modified his formation to include Rafinha and Arda Turan as right wing-backs.
To make matters worse, even the regular B-team right-back Nili Perdomo is out injured, a player Luis Enrique has called up to fill out his senior squad in the past.
Despite the disarray, provided there are no further setbacks, Barcelona should be able to line up with a defence of Sergi Roberto, Mascherano, Pique and Alba or Digne.
From there it gets easier, although with Luis Suarez suspended and Iniesta out injured, the coach cannot use two of his best players.
Paco Alcacer should get another shot to start in place of the Uruguayan as Barcelona's summer signing still looks for his first goal. Although the onus is on him as a striker to find the net, curiously none of Barcelona's summer signings have scored for the club.
One of Alcacer's former coaches, Vicente Mir, told Sport that he believes it will just take one goal for the striker to get going.
"He's had chances to score two or three goals, if he'd scored them, they'd be talking about something else. When he scores, the block will lift," he explained.
"He's a young lad with a great future. He's a player who stands out for his finishing, who can link play well, who knows how to play on the last man."
In midfield, Denis Suarez is likely to get another shot at playing the Iniesta role after his excellent second-half display against Sevilla that helped Barcelona turn the game around.
As the new players bed in, Barcelona will grow stronger. Luis Enrique rotating them also means that they will be fresh in the latter stages of the season.
Whichever team the coach puts out on Saturday should have enough to overcome the Andalusian visitors, and if he can use missing men Pique and Alba, he will be halfway towards recovering his best team—and Barcelona's problems should start to solve themselves.
And just as well, because the countdown to the Clasico on Dec. 3 has begun.
Rik Sharma is Bleacher Report's lead Barcelona correspondent. All information and quotes obtained firsthand unless specified. Follow him on Twitter here: @riksharma_.
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